Destiny
by Mr.Miyagi
Summary: What the future holds for Chomper.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I don't own Land Before Time, just Torik

The kids were playing toss the seed when Littlefoot noticed someone watching.

"Hey, I'm Littlefoot." He greeted the young dinosaur who was about their age

"Torik." She answered "Your friend is a, uh," She looked nervously back and forth between Littlefoot and Chomper

"Oh, don't worry. Chomper is a friendly sharp tooth. He is, he is!" Ducky insisted

Torik loosened up after hearing that and they invited her to play with them.

When the game was done and it was time for everyone to go home Torik asked Littlefoot to wait a minute.

"I'm glad there's a sharp tooth like Chomper. He's a nice, cute kid." It was obvious by the way she smiled and the sound of her voice that Torik meant every word

"Yeah." Littlefoot nodded, happy that Torik was fond of Chomper, "Isn't it great?"

"No. It's terrible." The bitterness was obvious in Torik's voice

and Littlefoot was thrown aback for a second before he became upset.

"What's so terrible about it?" His voice was on a normal key, yet there was a note of challenge in it

"I guess a better word would be unfortunate. It's unfortunate that you're so attached to a sharp tooth. It won't last."

Torik's word's only fueled Littefoot's anger

"Sharp tooth or not Chomper is my friend. And he always will be." Littlefoot insisted forcefully

"Oh please. You really think crawlers and buzzers will be enough for him forever?"

"Yes."

"Don't be so stupid." Torik rolled her eyes at Littlefoot as though she thought he was being ridiculous

This didn't help

"Look, Torik, Chomper would never hurt any of us! He's different from other sharp teeth."

"No, no, I'm not explaining clearly." Torik shook her head in frustration and sighed "Okay, think about how much you eat. Now compare that with how much a grown up would eat. As Chomper gets older he'll have two options. One, eat dinosaurs, not necessarily you, but like you. But assuming he doesn't give into his lust to do that, and it is part of his instinct to have that lust which is only going to get stronger, he'll have option two. Slowly starve to death."

Littlefoot felt himself growing more and more horrified as she went on and tried desperately to find some sort of argument against her, only to find none and ended up feeling worse.

"One way or another, you're going to loose him. That is absolute and unchangeable."

By the time Torik had stopped talking Littlefoot had gone completely numb.


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I don't own Land Before Time, just Torik

Torik's words were still ringing in Littlefoot's head the next day. He was determined to find a solution, any solution.

"Littlefoot, you just let Spike get past you with the seed!" Cera complained loudly

Littlefoot shook his head a bit to bring himself back to the present.

"Wha-oh, sorry, Cera. I guess I'm just a little distracted."

"What distracting you?" Petrie asked as the young dinosaurs gathered around their friend.

"Nothing. I was just, um, wondering where Torik is." Littlefoot said quickly just to change the subject off of himself

"Humph. You made us lose the game over that?" Cera said in her, 'you're nuts' voice

But Littlefoot wasn't listening. He'd thought up a solution so with a quick goodbye he ran away to look for Torik. The others stared after him confused.

Torik wasn't that hard to find. Like Guedo she was so unique looking that Littlefoot doubted there was anyone else like her. She walked on two legs like many dinosaurs did, but was oddly shaped. She had no tail and something dark brown grew out of the top of her head and hung down to her chin.

"Torik!"

He found her eating some berries. Torik turned around and gave him a cheerful greeting as though there was no reason for her to feel awkward after the last time they'd talked alone.

"I've known Chomper since he was an egg. He's like a little brother to me. To me his life is more important than mine." Littlefoot started to explain

and Torik could tell instantly where he was going with this

"You would really let him eat you just so he wouldn't starve." Then her placid face gave way to a smile and Torik began to laugh

"What's so funny?" Littlefoot asked, slightly irritated

That hadn't been the sort of reaction he was expecting from her.

"I'm sorry. It's just that here I thought you were really smart and you come up with the most idiotic plan. Do you have any idea just how many things are wrong with it?"

"Like what?" Littlefoot had meant for his voice to have a hint of challenge in it, but instead he just sounded nervous

Torik thought for a moment about where she should start.

"Okay, even if you say it's fine for him to eat you doesn't mean Chomper _will_ eat you. If you want this plan to succeed you'd have to distance yourself from him."

"Fine." Littlefoot hoped the pause before he replied was just in his mind

The truth was, Littlefoot didn't know if he could handle putting himself and Chomper through that. But it was worth the risk if it meant his friend would live. However, Torik wasn't done

"Alright, you win, we'll pretend he eats you. Now he's tasted real meat and will hunger for it more. What if he decides to get it from your friends? Since he was already able to eat you what's stopping him from killing the others, too? The only thing you'd be doing is robbing yourself of the short time you'll have with the Chomper you know."

Littlefoot's stomach was twisting into knots again until he could no longer feel it, just like the last time he'd spoken to Torik. Lucky for him Torik seemed to sense how desperately he wanted to not think about all that at the moment and took mercy on him

"So I know I look strange to you. It's just the way my species is."

That worked

"Wait, there are more like you?" Littlefoot stared at her in disbelief

Torik nodded

"Sure, but we live in a place too far away for you to have heard of it. It's called the suburbs."

"But there has to be other species where you're from besides your own." Littlefoot pointed out, wondering if it was really possible for a herd to be completely isolated

Then again, maybe the dinosaurs where Torik came from were just as unique as her and Guedo.

"There are." Torik admitted, Then let out a sigh, "Look, I'm not saying you have to, I only think you should discuss all this with Chomper. I mean, I know he'll have a panic attack, but it's about him. The subject will come up on its own eventually anyhow."

Littlefoot was back to his inner conflict, yet he'd still noticed something

"Torik, what is it about the other species you're not telling?"

She smiled, although it was obviously a mask more for his benefit than hers.

"Oh, just a habit we have."

"Habit?" Littlefoot repeated, pushing her to continue

"Well, since it would be rude of me to let you find out on your own I'll come right out and say it. We have a habit of eating them."

To say Littlefoot was thrown aback would be an understatement. All this time Torik had been talking about Chomper and it turned out that she was a meat eater, too

"How can you be a meat eater? I saw you eating berries." Littlefoot pointed out

It didn't add up

"I'm flexible when it comes to food options."

Littlefoot wasn't sure what to say. He'd never heard of a dinosaur that could eat both meat and plants.

"Littlefoot," Torik continued "I have a choice, Chomper doesn't."

She hadn't been trying to rub it in, yet Littlefoot could distinctly imagine that she was. The more he thought about it the more he realized what is own options would be if he couldn't find a solution.


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: I don't own Land Before Time, just Torik

Chomper had been sitting down eating a little snack before going to join the rest of his friends when he smelled Torik.

"Hey Chomper, what's up?" She smiled at him as she came out of the brush

He smiled back and waved

"Hi, Torik. Just eating." He replied

Torik leaned down next to him and something felt wrong. It wasn't the way she looked at him, or any kind of presence she was giving off. It was just a strange sort of sense Chomper was getting from Torik.

"Mind if we talk?" she asked

Chomper mentally shook it off. After all, Torik seemed pretty nice, so he figured it was just imagination.

"Okay. About what?"

It started to look as though Torik was forcing herself to keep eye contact with Chomper.

"Littlefoot clearly hasn't said anything to you and he's too attached to. But I'm not." She wasn't even trying to smile anymore

Chomper gave her a curious look, wondering what she was getting at

"Chomper, sometimes in life things get so messed up there is no right answer. That's the definition of tragedy. That is what it will be your destiny to cause." She explained

A confused Chomper pushed her to explain farther.

Instead of answering Torik got up and placed a hand on Chomper's head. Her smile was back. It was different than before, yet still sincere.

"If you spend too much time worrying about it now it'll only be a waste. Besides, when the time comes it'll hit you so hard I doubt the best amount of careful planning will help you."

Chomper stared at Torik as she removed her hand

Whatever she'd been talking about, it made Chomper feel worried

"I think I saw the others by the sheltering grass." Torik told him

Chomper nodded and headed in that direction on pure instinct, not really aware of his own actions.

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Instead of playing with his friends Chomper pulled Littlefoot aside to talk to him and told about his encounter with Torik. Inwardly Littlefoot made a decision. Torik was evil. That was all there was to it.

"Oh, uh, gee, Chomper. I, uh…." Littlefoot stumbled around for something to say

As angry as he was at Torik for getting him into this current position, there was one thing about her Littlefoot envied a little. Even if she was a little too blunt and didn't always phrase her words the way she should at least she could say something. Now Chomper's cute face was staring up at Littlefoot expecting the leaf eater to automatically have an answer. Chomper had always looked at him with those trusting eyes as though he truly believed Littefoot knew the right answer for everything. Once, Littlefoot had thought the face before him would never change. But now he knew that it had all been wishful thinking.

Even so, for now he and Chomper were good friends and Littlefoot wanted to deny they could be anything else as long as he could.

"It was nothing." Littlefoot replied lamely "Come on; let's go catch up to the others."

Littlefoot tried to run off only to be stopped by Chomper again.

"Are you sure?" he asked nervously just to double check

Littlefoot nodded reassuringly

"Positive."

It was a lie. Then again it had always been a lie. The only difference now was that Littlefoot knew he'd mentally created a future Chomper that could never exist.


	4. Chapter 4

Disclaimer: I don't own Land Before Time, just Torik

Littlefoot lay on the grassy hill staring up at the night circle. He'd be in so much trouble if he was caught up this late after his nest time. Yet this couldn't wait. Littlefoot needed to talk to Torik.

"Back home," Torik said from her seat beside him "we call the night circle the moon and the bright circle is the sun."

"Do you have different words for a lot of stuff?" Littlefoot asked partly because it was a good way of staling and also he really was interested

"Well," Torik traced patterns in the grass with a stick as she talked "Sky puffies are clouds, jumping waters are gysers, and the big water is the ocean." Torik poked Littlefoot with her stick, "You'd be a brontosaurus. Cera's a triceratops, Petrie's a pteradactyle, I have no clue what Duckie would be called, Spike's a stegosaurus, and Chomper is a tyrannosaurus rex. Also called a T-rex for short." Torik put a special emphasis on her mention of Chomper and stopped playing with her stick

Torik knew why they were there. Not that there'd been anything to figure out, it'd been pretty obvious since Littlefoot had woken her up saying he needed to speak with her. Which, after seeing how scary she could be when woken up during a good sleep, he had no intention of ever doing again.

"I'm sorry."

Littlefoot was shocked by the sudden apology

"Why?"

Torik's gaze was on the ground.

"I had no right to tell you. I mean, it's not like you wouldn't have figured it out eventually."

Littlefoot shook his head even though Torik wasn't watching

"No, I'm not happy about it, but you're right. I hate feeling this helpless." Littlefoot grumbled the last part through gritted teeth

Although Torik's face remained bowed towards the ground her eyes shifted to the top corners so she could look at Littlefoot

"Any ideas about what you're going to do?" Torik inquired softly

Littlefoot resumed staring up at the night circle, or, as Torik called it, the moon.

"I'm going to take you're advice about enjoying the time I have with him. We'll laugh and play together like always. When he's mocked for being a sharp-tooth I'll go through the motions of defending him the same way I did before." Littlefoot took a deep breath, "Then when that day starts to come I'll have to banish him from the Great Valley. You pointed out the flaws in my first plan and I could never bring myself to kill Chomper. The only choice I'll have will be to sever all my ties with him and hope I'll never see him again." Littlefoot's voice cracked more and more as he talked until he'd broken down crying at the end and had to force the words out.

Torik made no move to comfort Littlefoot and tell him everything would be okay. They both knew better.

So Littlefoot pretended things were the same and acted as though they would never change. Torik became a constant playmate, though a bit reluctantly at first seeing as how she and Littlefoot never managed to stop having an awkward relationship. Littlefoot continued to strain his length of time with Chomper until something happened that made it impossible to push any farther.


	5. Chapter 5

Disclaimer: I don't own L.B.T, just Torik

Chomper could smell it. A scent so sweet and appetizing he could hardly stand it. Blood. He couldn't see it on Torik, but he could smell it as strongly as though it was hitting fresh air. In Torik's mind all she could think was,

"Ow, ow, ow. I blame Eve for this pain."

Nothing was running through Chomper's mind. He charged feeling only pure instinct. Torik looked up just in time to see him coming. They were standing on a ledge and she didn't have much room to run away. Torik tried to dodge, but lost her balance. Chomper came back to his senses and tried to grab onto Torik before she fell. He stretched out his tiny hands a split second too late. Some of the other dinosaurs heard the commotion and rushed over to find Torik on the ground and Chomper on the ledge above

"Torik!" Littlefoot panicked

Cera and Spike helped her get into a sitting position

"I'm fine." by that she meant, 'it's nothing I won't heal from...eventually.' "I just fell."

Grandma longneck leaned down to inspect Torik and her eyes widened at what she saw.

"This wound looks like it was made by sharptooth claws." she exclaimed, releasing a breath which had been caught in her throat

"Care to explain?" Mr. Threehorn narrowed his eyes suspiciously at a very guilty looking Chomper

"That happened when he tried to catch me before I fell. Clearly it didn't work out so well." Torik told him dryly

and Mr. Threehorn stopped glaring. Littlefoot continued to shirft his eyes between Torik and Chomper

"Uh, you guys go on. I can look after her." Littlefoot tried to keep the nervousness out of his voice

Luckily it was mistaken as concern and everyone took off.

Before he left Chomper tried to think of a way to apologize to Torik, but nothing came close to being good enough, so instead he continued on his way

"Is that really what happened?" Littlefoot asked wearily after he was certain the two of them were alone

"Yes." Torik hissed at the pain she felt from her wound. "I just left out the beggining. Littlefoot, I fell because Chomper attacked me."

Littlefoot couldn't speak or even breath. Everything was spinning. It was happening too fast. He wanted...no, needed more time. Something he couldn't have.

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Littlefoot blind folded Chomper and snuck him out of the Great Valley, taking the young sharptooth as far away as possible in hopes that Chomper would never find his way back. Finally Littlefoot stopped and removed the blindfold

"Where are we?" Chomper studied their unfamiliar surroundings

Instead of answering Littlefoot fought to hold back a wave of tears that were begging to burst out

"I'm sorry, Chomper. I'm so sorry I've been lying to you for so long." Littlefoot managed to say

Littlefoot's words made no sense to Chomper

"When have you ever lied to me?" he couldn't think of a single time he'd even considered Littlefoot might be lying to him

Chomper had always been so trusting of him Littlefoot felt responsible for how messed up things had gotten. The least he could do was give Chomper an explaination. Littlefoot owed him that much. Littlefoot stopped thinking over his words and just spoke.

"I've always thought of you as a little brother ever since you hatched and back when we were kids I assumed that would always be enough."

"Assummed?"

Littlefoot couldn't stand to look at Chomper anymore. It hurt too much. So instead he turned his gaze towards the graying sky.

"Reality caught up to me. I pretended it was okay and things would never change. I foolishly told you we'd always be friends because you were different from other sharpteeth and for awhile I believed it. I haven't believed in that lie for quite some time, though."

Chomper felt a pain growing in his chest.

"W-what are you talking about? I am different from other sharpteeth and we _will_ always be friends." Chomper's voice cracked as he tried to make sense of what Littlefoot was saying to him

Littlefoot shook his head

"No, we were never going to stay friends forever. You're a sharptooth and that's all there is to it." Littlefoot snapped

Chomper was frozen

"Good-bye, Chomper." Littlefoot cut off all of his emotions as he ran away.

Suddenly Chomper became aware of what was happening and ran after Littlefoot yelling at him to stop. Chomper was going so fast he tripped over his own feet and did a face plant in the dirt. By the time he got up Littlefoot had rounded a corner and was gone. Chomper was too weighed down by confusion to go any farther.

A million thoughts and feelings were running through him. All the times Littlefoot had told Chomper he was a good sharptooth and stood up for him flashed through Chomper's mind. All those words he'd trusted entirely were a lie. Inside he saw Littlefoot walking away with his back turned on Chomper as he slowly faded away.

_"He's too attatched." _Torik's voice was playing in the faint back round of his mind

"Was that a lie, too?" Chomper wondered, curling tightly into himself

He heard foot steps and someone stopped a little ways away from him.

"It's getting dark, and it looks like there's going to be a rainstorm. You'd better find some shelter."

Chomper looked up and saw Torik standing before him a slight distance away. Her head was bowed, so her bangs hid most of her face.

"Torik? I'm sorry about earlier. I really am. Littlefoot, he said_"

"Idiot." Torik cut him off. Chomper couldn't really see her expression, yet Torik's voice didn't sound like she really believed it. "Didn't I already tell you it would be your destiny to cause this tragedy?" That time she clearly meant it

Never had Chomper felt such a strong desire to kill someone. They stared at each other for a few moments. Each of them aware of Chomper's intentions and both were waiting for the other to make the first move. Chomper thought he could hear Torik say,

"Your destiny has caught up with you."


	6. Chapter 6

Disclaimer: I don't own Land Before Time, just Torik. Hopefully the fact that I hadn't planned on writing this chapter won't make it less awesome than the rest of the story.

Littefoot lied down on the grass where he was avoiding his friends. He'd become reclusive after Chomper and the others had figured it be best not to push him into talking about the young sharptooth's 'death'.

"Idiot."

It was obvious who it was without Littlefoot having to look. The only person he was really talking to. Or more accurately the only person he_ could _talk to.

"You need to move on. Your friends are really worried about you."

How Torik was able to get on with her life so easily was beyond Littlefoot. It made him angry and jealous at the same time. Though at her words he decided to grit his teeth and respond with the anger.

"You make it sound so easy. Guess what? It isn't! Not that you'd get it." he practically shouted

"What are you talking about?" Torik was obviously just humoring him

Littlefoot sat up to face her and tried to think of an example, which didn't take long.

"Well, take when I told you about saving the world from the bright circle crashing and you told me that was impossible and I should have just enjoyed the eclipse. You wouldn't even acknowledge the possibility. You never do without cold, hard facts. You're a kid, but you refuse to have faith in anything." Littlefoot knew it was wrong of him to misplace his anger on Torik like this, but he also knew she'd understand so he continued, "It wouldn't kill you to drop your guard and just believe in something for once. Maybe then you'd be less frustrating to be around."

Torik had remained completely expressionless during Littlefoot's tirade. He expected her to move the conversation on to something else, yet she got up and left instead. As soon as Littlefoot calmed down a bit he began to feel guilty for yelling at Torik. After all, she'd only wanted to tell him about how his friends were doing and help.

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The others were, to put it lightly, pleasantly surprised to see Littlefoot. After getting over the initial shock they practically pounced on him.

"Hey, Littlefoot. Me was wondering if you knew what wrong with Torik." Petrie asked, getting Littlefoot's attention

"Oh, who can ever figure out what's on her mind." Cera shook her head, still upset over how Littlefoot had chosen her over them.

"What are you guys talking about?" In his gut Littlefoot knew

"She ran by us earlier and looked really upset about something. She did. She did." Ducky explained

and Littlefoot froze. He'd only been half right earlier. Torik understood, but that didn't mean his words hadn't hurt her feelings. Something Littlefoot had forgotten to think that far ahead about. He told the others he was going to look for her alone and took off again.

99999

"Torik?" Littlefoot whispered softly when he finally found her as though she'd run away or attack him if he spoke too loud or quickly. "About earlier...I'm really sorry." Littlefoot stuttered and mentally kicked himself for how lame the apology sounded.

"It's not about what you said specifically." Torik muttered, making a noticeable effort not to look at him, "It's because you were being so judgmental. You've been acting like you can trust me and I somehow have all the answers. Yet you know nothing about me."

"We're friends, aren't we?" Littlefoot answered meekly

and Torik whirled on him

"What's my favorite color? Favorite food? Do I have siblings? What are my hobbies? Face it, you can't name any of those things and these are just the shallow questions."

Littlefoot's mouth opened and closed several times as he tried to think of what to say. She was right. Again. All the time Littlefoot had been depending on her odd way of support he'd never noticed that so far their 'friendship' had all been a one-way path.

"So um, what are the answers to all those things?" Littlefoot thought that sounded a bit lame, but it seemed to be good enough for Torik

"I don't have a favorite color because I find the whole practice pointless. You don't want to know what my favorite food is and I have two and a half older sisters. Don't ask." Torik added the last part when she noticed Littlefoot's expression after he heard the half part. "You wouldn't understand my hobbies anyway and I don't feel like taking the effort to explain them."

Littlefoot decided to expand his questioning and for once it wasn't to distract himself from Chomper. As hard as Torik could be to deal with he liked spending time with her.

"Do you miss your home? Do you ever want to go back, even just to visit."

Torik sighed

"Of course I miss my home, but it's on the other side of the ocean."

Littlefoot gave her a confused look.

"It's a lot of water. Probably tasted bad."

and Littlefoot understood. His eyes went wide with wonder and curiousity. He never would've guessed the big water, the 'ocean', had another side!

They continued talking until it was dark and Littlefoot had to go home.


	7. Chapter 7

Disclaimer: I don't own LBT, only Torik

Blood and sweat ran down the young dinosaur dying on the ground. Littlefoot wanted so badly to help, but there were the others to consider. He was no longer a child, fantasizing that everything would somehow magically be okay, but someone with the job of protecting those he cared about. He and those remaining fought viscously to ward off the sharp tooth attack, but they were surrounded.

The attacks had been happening so frequently now. They'd started close to the drought when the plants had begun dying and by extension the leaf eaters had, too. Sensing they would lose their food source the meat eaters had become even bolder and now it took the leaf eaters everything they had to keep sharp tooth out of their dying valley. The once peaceful utopia was a thing of the past, yet the dinosaurs still clung to their home and the sense of pride it gave them. At times like this, Littlefoot really hated that. He'd lost so much already…

They lost even more that day, but finally the sharp teeth were forced to admit a stand still and leave albeit begrudgingly. It wasn't over though, Littlefoot wondered if it ever would be. He was about to follow his comrades back into the valley when something caught his attention and he looked back. A sharp tooth had hung back and stayed poised on the rim of the canyon wall as if studying Littlefoot.

_Littlefoot had heard the news of Petrie's death and was beside himself. Upon hearing it had been a sharp tooth he couldn't help wondering…he hated wondering _that_._ Littlefoot responded by staring back despite that he didn't have to. Didn't even want to, yet there were so many emotions and memories connected with that figure he could not stop.

_The dinosaurs had been made paranoid by their harsh times. Tensions were constantly brewing and a fear of death hung in the air for everyone, so when Torik was caught eating one of the ones who had already died the small mob of dinosaurs didn't even hesitate. He remembered the frightened look on her face as he tried so hard to save her until the cold truth that she was already dead set in. It was the only time he'd ever seen Torik look afraid and Littlefoot did not want to remember it as vividly as he did._

No matter how far away the sharp tooth was, even if he was only a shadow Littlefoot knew him. Or at least he had once.

_Cera had discovered what had truly happened to Chomper and had stormed out as she had so many times in the past, only this time she never came back. No one talked or apologized and there'd been no sense of forgiveness as there'd been during every other time she'd gotten mad, she was simply…gone. _

There was a tense sort of feeling hanging in the air strangling them both. Neither moved forward or back. For Littlefoot the same could be said figuratively as well.

_Chomper's innocent face stared up at him with tears glistening in his eyes as Littlefoot abandoned him to his fate. Everything about that moment had burned itself into Littlefoot's mind._

Finally they turned from each other and went their separate ways. Now Littlefoot understood for certain that it really was over.


End file.
